Saturday, October 5, 2013

The Rest of the Story on Vacuum Cleaner Filtration

Thursday morning before heading off to work we heard a story on the local news about mold and bacteria being found in vacuum cleaners. After doing a google search, I found the story I assume it was based upon, posted by The Huffington Post. It was about how they found bacteria and mold in vacuum cleaner dust.

I was thrown back to my college years; my classes in Psych Statistics and Experimental Psychology and I wanted to poke holes in their story. They tested a range of vacuum cleaners and then put the results all in a pile. OK, so when I clicked over to who actually did the study I found some more specifics (all links to stories are included at the end of this post.) But I digress. What do you as a consumer want to know about this and how can we help you? The following are things that come to mind:

Bagged vs. Bagless
Filtration, HEPA filtration: what is it
Do I really have to change those filters
Does it matter how old my vacuum cleaner is

Overall, bagged vacuum cleaners do a better job of containing the dirt, and therefore the mold and the bacteria; both what stays inside your vacuum cleaner and what gets blown into the air. There is the added benefit of you staying cleaner when using a bagged machine.

There are various levels of filtration. There are machines that can measure this. We can demonstrate that in our store and explain it to you in depth. Not all HEPA are created equally. And yes, you do have to change (most of the time that means buy new ones) your filters. If you do not suffer with asthma or allergies, then the regular filtration on your vacuum cleaner, having it serviced and changing your filters should be enough.

Sometimes the age of the vacuum cleaner does matter. There is better technology when it comes to filtration. Again, part of this depends upon your lifestyle. Your local independent vacuum store should be able to service your vacuum cleaner and/or give you advice as to whether or not you need a new vacuum cleaner.

Do you have comments after reading these articles? We’d love to hear your thoughts.